PURCHASE, N.Y. – A three-pointer from freshman JoJo Cobbs (Elmsford, N.Y./Briarcliff) with less than a minute remaining proved to be the difference as the Manhattanville College men's basketball team held off Wilkes University by a 61-58 score to pick up its first MAC Freedom victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at Kennedy Gym.
 
Junior Alex Tuci (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) led a very balanced scoring effort with 17 points and seven rebounds, but every other Valiant made big contributions in the win as well. Freshman Dwayne Frazier (Miami, Fla./The Sagemont School) just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds and junior Chris Ayson (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) chipped in a season-high eight points, while classmate Dom Arena (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) added eight points and a game-high five assists as well for Manhattanville (5-8, 1-1 MAC Freedom).
 
Saturday's game was a tight affair against two evenly matched teams, as the final 12 minutes were played with neither team leading by more than three points at any point.
 
Wilkes (7-6, 1-1 MAC Freedom) led for the first nine minutes of the second half, but eight straight points put Manhattanville ahead 50-47 with 8:10 left. Tuci had four points while Frazier and Ayson added a bucket each for the Valiants during the run, which was the second-largest for either team on the day behind only a 9-0 stretch for the home team in the opening half.
 
Five straight points for Wilkes put the visitors back up by two, but Manhattanville seemingly had an answer for every Colonel point the rest of the way and also amped up the defensive pressure at the other end. Two Arena free throws tied the score at 52 with 6:33 left, and Frazier hit a big bucket to again tie the score at 54 as the clock ticked under four minutes to go.
 
With the Colonels holding a 56-54 lead with under two minutes remaining, Ayson hit a huge three from the right wing to put the Valiants back up by one. After a foul sent Marcus Robinson to the line for two made free throws with 1:08 left, Cobbs sunk a three from the left corner that again put Manhattanville ahead by a 60-58 score with 41 seconds on the clock.
 
After a missed three, Frazier soared for a key defensive rebound and was fouled, and after he made the first the Valiants looked to catch a huge break when two Wilkes players could not control the rebound of the second shot to give the ball back to Manhattanville. A turnover gave the Colonels one last chance, but some more excellent defense forced a rushed three with the clock winding down that came up short of the rim to give the Valiants the victory.
 
Manhattanville hit 13-of-28 shots (46.4 percent) in the second half to finish the afternoon at 41.5 percent (22 of 53) from the field, including five of its seven three-pointers coming after halftime. Wilkes missed its final six shots from the field to finish the game at 37.7 percent (20 of 53) from the field.
 
The Valiants took excellent care of the ball on Saturday, turning it over only nine times while also converting 11 Wilkes turnovers into 14 points at the other end.
 
Manhattanville will return to MAC Freedom play on Wednesday evening, when the Valiants head to DeSales University for an 8 p.m. tipoff with the Bulldogs.